Gurgaon to get free WiFi hotspots from November

The Wi-Fi project was announced by Google's India-born CEO Sunder Pichai on Sunday after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. GURGAON: The MCG's plan to provide free WiFi connectivity in the city is in its final stages with the service set to be launched across four areas from November this year.

From next month, parts of old and new Gurgaon will have free WiFi in public spaces including MG Road, Sirhaul village and a portion of the Old Delhi Road, Sadar Bazar and around Leisure Valley Park, said MCG commissioner Vikas Gupta.

"The plan was conceived in March and we have been finalizing tenders and other official procedures till now. After discussing the issue with the operator, we are now ready to start the free public WiFi service with a minimum download speed of 2Mb per second," Gupta told TOI.

According to Gupta, the service will be free for the first 30 minutes after which users will have to pay a nominal charge for further use. "After the first 30 minutes, further internet usage is chargeable, albeit at a nominal rate, which would be announced soon," he said.

The WiFi hotspots at MG Road will enable free connectivity from Westin Hotel to Sikanderpur Metro. At Sadar Bazar the connectivity will extend up to Roshanpura.

"Once this first phase is complete, we will take up other areas in the city where WiFi services will be provided by the MCG," he added.

Several people ET spoke with about Ericsson’s India operations, including its current and former employees, said the Stockholm-based firm has reduced headcount in the last one year or so across functions, in line with its global restructuring.